NICE's Alzheimer's drug ruling challenged in court

15/04/2008

The manufacturer of an Alzheimer's drug is challenging a decision by the NHS National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) in court.

Eisai, manufacturer of the drug Aricept, has taken its case to the Court of Appeal after an initial lawsuit, brought by the pharmaceutical company with Pfizer and Shire and the Alzheimer's Society, was upheld by the High Court last year.

NICE has ruled that Aricept, Reminyl and Exelon should only be prescribed to Alzheimer's patients whose condition has deteriorated, as it was too expensive to dispense in the early stages of the disease.

Aricept argues that almost 100,000 patients in the UK with Alzheimer's disease will be denied potentially life-changing treatment each year by the decision by medicines watchdog NICE four years ago to limit access to certain drugs, having concluded that some treatments are not cost effective for sufferers in the early stages of Alzheimer's.

Supporters of the treatment argue that it could help to delay the onset of the condition and that Aricept, which costs £2.50 a day, should be made available to all 700,000 Alzheimer's patients in the UK.

Best-selling writer Terry Pratchett, 59, has revealed that he has been told that he will not be eligible to receive Aricept until his Alzheimer's worsens. He is purchasing his own treatment and has donated £500,000 to research into the disease, having been diagnosed last year.

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